


Seven Days

by eximicus



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: APH England Birthday, Alternate Universe - Human, Fluff, Happy Birthday England!, I swear, M/M, RIP me, USUK - Freeform, idk what i am doing, lol, this is really shitty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-17
Updated: 2016-04-23
Packaged: 2018-06-02 17:50:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 16,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6576418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eximicus/pseuds/eximicus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alfred gave Arthur surprises for seven days.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Bears

It was almost nine by the time Arthur arrived home. Worn out, he sat himself on the sofa in the living room, not bothering to tidy up his shoes and change his clothes to a more comfortable one. The meeting before felt like the longest meeting he had ever had in his lifetime. Seriously, how could discussing about a few things take more than three hours? And honestly, it didn't feel like a discussion at all.

It was more like a debate, actually. Hectic and noisy. Arthur's head hurt only by remembering a small part of the meeting today. It didn't help that Ludwig and Francis were always yelling throughout the meeting. The meeting was a mess, but the problems didn't end there. His proposal got rejected and his boss was angry because his work didn't satisfy him.

His hand moved up to work on his tie, loosening it. Arthur sighed as he laid comfortably on his sofa. Good thing he lived alone in a small apartment because it was quiet and peaceful—something he really needed right now after a long day full of hard work.

Five minutes relaxing, Arthur then thirsted for a cup of tea. He stood up and walked towards his kitchen to make himself a nice cup of warm tea.

The kitchen was dark and silent. Arthur marched quietly towards the cupboard and took out a beautiful porcelain cup decorated with flowers—his favourite tea cup. Having skilled hands, Arthur boiled water and brewed tea in a fast pace. Soon, a cup of tea was ready, in which he sipped it right after he was done.

A content sigh escaped his pale lips, dissolving right to the thin air. His green eyes shone brightly in happiness and Arthur felt calm and content, if only—

_RING! RING!_

—if only his mobile didn't ring too loudly for his liking right now.

And what was it with the ringtone?! He didn’t remember changing the ringtone to something as ridiculous as this one!

Annoyed, he took out his mobile from his trousers pocket and the word 'Alfred F. Jones'popped on the screen. Arthur pressed the green button and gritted his teeth while bringing the mobile closer to his ear.

" _Yo, Artie! How was the—_ "

"Alfred F. Jones, how dare you change my ringtone without my permission!" He cut the American's words in annoyance, and following after it was Alfred's infamous boisterous laugh.

" _Really late in realizing it, aren't you, Artie?_ " Alfred spoke again, his tone happy and cheerful. But it didn't sound like music to Arthur's ears. It sounded more like hell, actually. " _Did you just arrive home?_ " His tone changed to a softer one and unconsciously, Arthur's lips turned upwards, forming a gentle smile. Alfred's caring side had never failed to seep through him and melt him completely.

The Englishman nodded in response, forgetting that Alfred couldn't see him nod. He brought his tea out towards the living room and sat down on the sofa, trying to make himself comfortable. "Around ten minutes ago, I think."

" _How's the meeting going?_ "

"Awful." Arthur immediately replied and sipped his tea. His headache came back and he grunted in a low voice, earning a surprised gasp from the American across the pond. "I've got headache and it's just getting worser and worser. And the fact that today is a little bit chilly doesn't help at all."

Alfred chuckled again and it rang clearly through Arthur's head. _Beautiful_ , the Englishman thought and his smile got wider than before. His pale cheeks gradually turned a little bit rosy and his chest felt warmer. The feeling was lovely and Arthur couldn't deny that he liked it.

" _If only I were there, darling,_ " Alfred started, " _I'd surely hug you tight and kiss you 'til I'm tired. Because I miss you so much._ " 

Arthur blushed and stared at the ceiling, feeling slightly embarrassed—even though the American wasn't here with him. "Shut it, Alfred. It's embarrassing," He complained, though deep down, both of them knew Arthur liked it. Soon, silence engulfed between them and Arthur could hear Alfred's steady breathing through the phone.

" _...You are lonely, aren't you?_ "

That one question from Alfred managed to shut Arthur completely. The Englishman averted his gaze from the ceiling and it fell on his hand, which he clenched tightly. Arthur couldn't deny that yes, he liked solemnity and he loved being alone surrounded by peacefulness.

But he also couldn't deny that he missed Alfred more than he could describe.

Everything bubbled up inside of him and Arthur almost felt like crying. For a moment, it was silent—in the room and over the phone. Neither of them dared to talk, with Arthur trying to recollect his composure and Alfred understanding what his lover was doing right now.

"I'm not," Arthur answered. He was a very stubborn man indeed, and Alfred knew that very well. The American chuckled over the phone and Arthur blinked quickly, trying to stop the tears from falling down.

" _Stop hiding your own feelings, Artie_ ," Alfred spoke in an disagreeing tone and Arthur bit his lips hard it bled, and he managed to choke back a sob.

" _Or else, your heart will bleed and hurt so much you can't feel anything anymore_."

And Arthur's defense crumbled. Tears began rolling down his cheeks freely and naturally. The Englishman cried in silence and he could hear Alfred smiling and sighing through the mobile. Apparently, Alfred was right. Everything hurt so much and Arthur just couldn't stop crying.

" _You did well, Artie—you did a really great job._ " Arthur could hear Alfred trying to comfort him and smiled slightly, thankful for his effort. " _You survived the week. I'm proud of you._ "

"Stop it." Arthur managed to say between the sobs and Alfred's laugh followed after. He was really grateful he had a really amazing and caring boyfriend, even though he could be really annoying and childish sometimes. "My name's Arthur."

" _Whatever._ " Arthur knew that right now, Alfred must've been rolling his eyes. Chuckling softly, he lifted up his legs and hugged his knees in an attempt to ease his feeling of loneliness. " _And so! Because I can't be there to accompany you, I tried to find you my replacement. And I did._ "

"You what?" Arthur's eyes grew slightly wider and he frowned afterwards. Weird. What replacement? Seriously, Alfred wasn't pulling a joke on him, was he?

" _I found you a replacement!_ " There was something fishy behind Alfred's tone, but Arthur couldn't figure out what that was. " _Where are you right now, Artie?_ "

"Living room. Sitting on the sofa."

Alfred hummed and the Englishman could hear him nodding his head faintly. " _Living room, eh. Now stand up and go to your bedroom. And don't turn the lamp on before I say so._ "

"Bedroom?" Arthur responded curiously, but he did what Alfred asked him to. He stood up and walked towards his bedroom silently, stopping right in front of a wooden door with carving of roses. An eyebrow was raised and a slight feeling of suspicion rose up, Arthur's eyes narrowing slightly. "What are you planning, Alfred?"

A noisy sound of something Arthur didn't know filled his ear, following right after that was Alfred's loud voice. " _Nothing! Just go inside and see for y'self._ " Arthur could hear Alfred smirking as he put his hand on the doorknob. " _Go on, open it. Trust me, you'll like it._ "

Arthur took a deep breath and opened the door slowly. Inside, the room was dark and Arthur could see nothing. He entered the room cautiously, afraid of what Alfred had planned for him.

Only the sounds of breathing were exchanged between them—Arthur's was anxious and Alfred's was excited.

Slowly but surely, Arthur explored his room, stretching his hand out to feel things in the dark. The lamp was located near his bed, so he walked towards his bed in a constant pace with a heart that was beating too fast in anxiety.

"...Alfred?" Arthur called softly, taking a deep breath. "You're still there?"

" _I'm here, Artie._ "

"Are you sure you didn't do something funny?"

" _Not at all. Don't you trust me?_ " Arthur nodded immediately upon hearing the question, but then realizing that Alfred couldn't see him nodding, he answered with a soft voice. "I do."

" _Good. Now, turn on the lamp in your bedroom and you'll understand what I mean._ "

Arthur quickly found the bed and sat on it first, reaching towards the nightstand to turn on the lamp. Accidentally, his fingers touched something fluffy and furry, and Arthur gasped slightly.

" _What's wrong, Artie?_ "

"There's something full of fur sitting on my bed—" Before Arthur could finish his words, Alfred's laughed filled the air, leaving the Englishman confused.

What was so funny? Arthur didn't understand.

" _Turn the lamp on, Artie. No need to freak out like that._ " Alfred instructed and Arthur proceeded to turn the lamp on quickly. In a sudden, the lamp was on and the room was so bright Arthur had to blink a few times to adjust with the sudden light coming through his eyes.

When he had adjusted to the bright light, he turned towards the bed and couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Before his eyes was a giant, fluffy, brown teddy bear which was surrounded by four other small, white teddy bears. All of them were smiling at him and had a heart plush on their hands with a word on it. Arranged together, they spelt ' _I ♥︎ YOU_ ' and Arthur blinked rapidly, his hands covering his mouth—he didn't really know whether to smile or to cry.

"Oh, God—A-Alfred—" Arthur's words hung in the air and he sniffled slightly. Alfred did this for him? That silly idiot, Arthur thought, as he moved forward and gave the brown teddy bear a big hug. Well, Alfred did say that they were a replacement of him, didn't he?

" _Do you like it?_ " Alfred's voice sounded curious and hopeful, Arthur couldn't help but to smile at that.

"Very much." Arthur breathed on the bear's fur and he could smell Alfred's scent on it. His chest gradually felt warmer and tears started to roll down his cheeks again—but this time, they were happy tears. "Thank you, Alfred."

" _I saw them in the mall a few days ago and I thought, I couldn't not buy you those cute lil' guys. And I remembered that you like bears a lot, so there's even no more reason not to buy you those._ " Alfred blabbered on the phone and Arthur immediately thought, _'typical Alfred'_. "Then?"

" _Well, because I couldn't come to England to put them myself, so I sent them via airmail and hired Francis to do it in my stead. Because he has your spare keys, right?_ "

_Why must Francis, out of all people?_ Arthur thought, but Alfred's reason actually made sense. "Yes."

" _Right. So I asked him to sneak out of the meeting to put them in your room._ "

So that was the reason why he ran away from the meeting this afternoon after the break. Arthur was extremely angry when he found out Francis was gone during the break until the end of the meeting. But, after finding out the reason why, his anger was gone, just like that. He made a mental note to call Francis later and apologise to him. That was the least he could do after what Alfred had made him to do.

"You idiot," Arthur muttered on the phone and laid down on the bed, the bears pressed tightly against his body. He hugged them and imagined Alfred in their stead, and his smile got wider than before. "You don't have to do this, you know."

" _I can't just sit down and do nothing when I know you're feeling alone and you miss me a lot._ " He could imagine Alfred grinning after he said that and Arthur just shook his head in disbelief. " _I really want to be there with you, but I have piles of papers to finish. Have to do them first before I can go to see you._ "

Arthur's fingers stroked the bear's soft fur slowly while imagining his fingers, in between Alfred's golden locks. "Thank you," He whispered, his green irises shone brightly in gratefulness. "I miss you too."

Both of them were smiling and it felt extremely right and perfect, if only—

_BEEP! BEEP!_

—if only Arthur's alarm didn't ring so loudly right now.

"Bloody hell!" The Englishman groaned and turned it off, before mumbling again on the phone. "Sorry for that. It was my alarm." Arthur sighed while pinching the bridge of his nose—his headache came back again. "My head hurts."

" _You have to rest._ " Alfred said, and Arthur yawned. " _Go to sleep, then._ "

"What about you?"

" _Me?_ " Alfred repeated and Arthur nodded. " _I still have papers to work on._ " Alfred laughed again for the umpteenth time and it still sounded like music to Arthur's ears. Beautiful and just pure. How could something so perfect exist in this world? And moreover, he had him all for himself. " _Don't worry about me. Worry about yourself first._ "

"Alright." Arthur got up and changed his clothes fast to a more comfortable night wear, before tucking himself to bed. "Don't sleep too late, love."

" _Mhm. G'night, Artie, I love you! Sleep well and dream of me!_ "

"Right. I love you too, Alfred." Arthur chuckled and the last thing he heard from Alfred before he ended the call was the familiar boisterous laugh.

Arthur put his mobile on the nightstand and covered his body with his blanket, before pulling the bear to a tight hug again. The Englishman stared at the bear's eyes, which, coincidentally, had the same colour as Alfred's eyes.

The bluest eyes he had ever seen.

Arthur smiled before giving the bear a soft kiss on the lips. He turned off the lamp, closed his eyes and fell asleep easily with a smile on his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> eximicus here speaking.
> 
> hello everyone! back again with a new (multi chaptered) fic... now, i plan to update this everyday, but i'm not quite sure if i can do it, seeing how busy my schedule is... but i'll try my best to update it everyday! this fic is to celebrate arthur's birthday and the last chapter (hopefully) will be up on april 23! thank you for reading and please expect more for the next few days! this fic is unbeta-ed and as usual, forgive me for grammatical errors and please point them out if you see mistakes!


	2. Flowers

Morning came quickly and Arthur yawned widely when the alarm blarred near his ears. He turned the alarm off and stared at the red numbers on it.

04:30.

He averted his gaze to his right, towards the bear, and last night's events came crushing down on him. His lips quirked up, forming a smile and Arthur got up from his bed in a happy mood.

He showered and wore his clothes quickly, only stepping out of his room after giving a good morning kiss for the Alfred-bear.

"Good morning," He whispered to the bear and his cheeks turned slightly rosy, feeling embarrassed because he had just talked with a stuffed bear. Arthur went out of his room after giving the bear a chaste kiss on its lips and went to the kitchen with a red face.

By the time he got to the kitchen, it was almost 05:15. Arthur quickly boiled water for his tea and whilst waiting for the water, he took a book and read it.

Soon, the water was ready and he prepared his tea in no time. 05:30—Arthur still had 30 minutes to enjoy his tea before going out to work. Through the window, he could see the sky got brighter and brighter—it seemed like it would be a sunny day. It was rare, perhaps it was a sign that today would be a good day.

After finishing his tea, Arthur finally set out of his apartment at 06:00. He walked towards the front door, double-checking that he already put his documents on his bag and when he found out he already did, Arthur grabbed the doorknob and pushed the door open.

What greeted him was some fresh roses laying on the floor in front of his apartment door, waiting to be picked.

The Englishman blinked in confusion and squatted down curiously, picking the flowers up cautiously. Arthur brought the roses near his nose and inhaled the scent slowly. The smell of fresh picked roses and rain filled his nose and it made him feel calm. He went back to the apartment to put the roses inside.

Arthur went back to the kitchen, pulling a jug out from one of the cupboards and filled it with water. Putting the fresh flowers in, Arthur's eyes caught something in between the prickly stems of roses.

A card.

He took the card out from between the roses and opened it.

' _10 roses_ '

Those words were written with a black ink pen with beautiful handwriting that Arthur didn't recognise. A frown appeared on Arthur's face. Strange. Only those were written on the card. What did those words mean? Arthur had no idea. Even though he was fond of flowers and knew the meaning behind every flower, Arthur literally had no idea what the words on this card meant.

Oh well, he could always figure it out later.

Arthur walked again towards the door and opened it. Before leaving, he spared a glance at the roses before slamming the door shut, leaving the apartment surrounded in total silence. 

* * *

Thank goodness Arthur wasn't late. The roads were packed with people and he almost thought that he was late. He still had five minutes left before his work officially started and he had to run to get to his room.

" _Bonjour_ , Arthur!" He caught the sight of Francis Bonnefoy, one of his co-workers and Arthur slowed down slightly.

"Good morning, Francis." He replied, and suddenly remembered to apologise to Francis. "Look, Francis, I want to apologise for Alfred's—"

Not surprised, Francis cut his words before Arthur could finish, shaking his head and sipped his drink. " _Non, non_ , Arthur! Don't mind it, I was just helping a friend!" He flashed a smile that was typical Francis and Arthur rolled his eyes when he saw the Frenchman smirked. "But yes, Alfred sure has a good taste in choosing gifts, _oui?_ Giving you something you like—"

"Wait. Alfred told y—oh God." Arthur let out an exasperated sigh, folding his arms in front of his chest before glaring at Francis, his green eyes glowing. " _Don't you dare telling that to anyone else_."

Francis nodded quickly, still keeping that playful smirk plastered on his face. " _Oui_. I will not tell a single soul. Rest assured."

Arthur stared at the Frenchman again for a moment and nodded. "Good." He mumbled, remembering in a sudden that he had to get to his office as soon as possible. "Sorry, Francis, but I have to get goi—"

Before Arthur could finish (again), Francis shoved a bouquet of roses in front of his face. Roses again, Arthur thought, as he received the flowers with a confused look. "What?"

"For you," Francis said, winking at him and saluted before going towards the opposite side of Arthur. " _Au revoir!_ "

"Wait, Francis!" Arthur shouted, making the Frenchman stop in his place. He turned his back to face Arthur, his expression showed confusion. " _Oui?_ "

"Who's the sender?" The Englishman gestured towards the bouquet and stared at it—and Francis just flashed that meaningful smile.

"Go and figure it out yourself," was all the Frenchman said before leaving, and when Arthur looked up, Francis was already gone.

Arthur's gaze lingered at the bouquet full of roses with a frown on his face. Now, this was really confusing. He noticed a card—the same card he found tucked between the roses in front of his apartment—and opened it.

' _24 roses_ '

Before, it was 10. Now, it was 24? And it was the same beautiful handwriting. Strange. Arthur couldn't figure out what was happening. The Englishman shrugged, deciding that he would think about this matter later after he had finished all of his job today.

But no, it didn't go on according to his plans and strange things kept happening.

You see, the door was locked before he came in. Arthur was 100% positive, because he needed to unlock the door first before he got in. Yet, when he managed to open the door and walked towards his desk, there were flowers, arranged beautifully on his wooden desk. A small card was also present there, and it was half-open.

Arthur put the bouquet he received from Francis on the empty side of the desk and his fingers reached towards the card, curious on what he would find this time.

' _9 roses_ '

10, 24, and now, it was 9. What could these numbers probably mean? Arthur was puzzled. He gathered the roses and stared at them for an awful long time, thinking about who might be behind the roses of surprise.

When he was deep inside his own thoughts, Arthur didn't hear the knockings that had been going on for the last five minutes on his door. Only when he saw something shoved in front of his face did he realise that he actually got a visitor right now.

"Wha—"

"For you, Arthur- _san_ ," The voice politely informed him. He was holding a bigger bouquet than the one he received from Francis before and Arthur's forehead wrinkled in confusement when he saw the flowers.

Roses, _again_. And this time, there were a lot of them.

"O-Oh, thank you, Kiku." Arthur mumbled as he received the bouquet again from Kiku, and the Japanese silently thanked Arthur because God, the bouquet was quite heavy.

Without further ado, Kiku handed Arthur a card. The same card he had been receiving since this morning. He gave Kiku a confused look and Kiku just replied his gaze with a ' _please see it for yourself_ ' look.

And so Arthur did.

But there was nothing except for the same words printed on it. This time, it was ' _60 roses_ '.

So far, he had 10, 24, 9 and 60 flowers.

"Kiku?" Arthur called, making the Japanese man flinch in surprise.

" _Ha'i_ , Arthur- _san_?"

Arthur looked up, facing Kiku, his green eyes met with Kiku's brown ones and he could see how nervous Kiku was as he kept playing with his shirt.

"Who's the sender, if I may know?" He stared curiously, using a slightly cautious and soft tone to make Kiku spill the informations.

But of course, Kiku, being a truly Japanese man he was, shook his head and refused to answer Arthur's question.

" _Sumimasen_ , Arthur- _san_. But he said not to tell you who he is," He muttered, bowing and smiling slightly at Arthur before walking towards the door and leaving Arthur alone inside his office.

Arthur ruffled his hair in frustration. Everyone was keeping this a secret from him, eh? Fine. He didn't need anyone's help. He was going to figure out who the sender was by himself, anyway.

* * *

It was almost 12 and Arthur still had no idea about the mysterious flower sender. He still had no idea either with the numbers written on every single card he found between the stems of roses. Oh well—his job was far more important than thinking about the mysterious sender right now. He could do that after he finished typing this document first.

Arthur groaned again for the umpteenth time when he accidentally pressed the delete button on his laptop. He had been working on this document for the past one and a half hour and he wasn't done yet. Screw technologies! If he had had the option choose, he would've chosen to write manually instead of typing with the bloody laptop, though it certainly would take him a bloody lot more time.

That's it. He would continue this tonight. Arthur sighed and saved his document before closing the laptop. He rested his head against the wooden desk and stared at the flowers that were now inside a water bottle.

His brain played again the scenario this morning, when he first found the roses in front of his apartment door.

And so far, he got 10, 24, 9, and 60. What were those numbers indicating to? Did they have meaning behind them?

...Wait.

Arthur fixed his sitting position quickly and turned on his laptop again. "Come on, come on, come on!" He yelled when the loading sign appeared on his laptop screen and sighed impatiently.

" _Aiyaa_ , Arthur! Open the door, _aru_!"

Arthur looked up from his laptop towards the door and he saw Yao standing there with a bouquet of roses, again. Quickly, the Englishmans stood up and practically ran towards the door to open it.

"Yao?" Arthur called his boss' secretary, Wang Yao, but the Chinese man didn't respond. Too busy to get in and put the flowers on Arthur's desk.

"Yao?" Arthur tried again and this time, the Chinese man turned towards him with a puzzled look on his face.

"Who's the sender?" The Englishman asked cautiously again, trying to spill some informations from Yao. But Wang Yao wasn't a stupid guy. He shook his head, a satisfied look plastered on his face because Arthur still didn't know who the sender was.

Good.

"Can't tell you, _aru_. Figure it out yourself!" The older male told him and quickly left the room.

Arthur snorted and folded his arms on his chest. Fine. _Besides, I already know what I should do_ , he thought to himself and his eyes fell on the roses. He spotted the same white card and opened it eagerly.

' _40 roses_ '

Arthur sat on his chair again and averted his gaze towards his laptop. Thank goodness the laptop had loaded and the browser was now open.

He did some searchings and when he clicked a link and a page showed up, Arthur read it quickly and smiled when he found out what he wanted to know,

10 roses meant ' _you're perfection_.'  
24 roses meant ' _I'm yours_.'  
9 roses meant ' _I want to be with you forever._ '  
60 roses meant ' _my love knows no bounds._ '  
And lastly, 40 flowers meant ' _my love for you is genuine_.'

His cheeks immediately turned rosy and Arthur hid his face between the flowers. That bloody wanker, he thought, smiling stupidly like a teenage girl in love as he stared at the roses and inhaled them.

The Englishman immediately took his phone and typed like a mad person before sending the message. And when he sent it, a big smile was plastered onto his face as he continued doing his job with a warm feeling resting on his chest and tummy.

_To: Alfred F. Jones  
Sub: -_

_Thank you for the flowers. They're lovely. I love you._


	3. Video and a Song

It was evening by the time Arthur received Alfred's reply. His phone buzzed when he was eating his dinner, but Arthur didn't mind. With the excitement flooding inside Arthur's chest, he opened his mobile and the words ' _one unread message_ ' showed up on the screen.

_From: Alfred F. Jones  
Sub: Re: -_

_You found out 'bout it? ;) Glad u like 'em!_

Arthur was about to reply the message when his mobile rang suddenly. The Englishman blinked and his eyes lit up in excitement when he saw Alfred's name on the screen.

"Hello?" Arthur muttered after he answered the call. A content sigh escaped Alfred's lips and Arthur smiled when he heard Alfred's voice through the phone.

" _Hey Artie!_ " The American exclaimed in happiness and Arthur's cheeks immediately dusted in pink. " _How was your day?_ "

The Englishman's glowing green eyes stared at the roses dipped in the jug full of water on his table as his fingers grazed the petals gently, feeling the softness of the roses against his fingertips. "Brilliant," He replied, keeping the silly grin on his face. "Thank you for the lovely roses."

" _No problem! They're for you, after all._ " Alfred said and Arthur could hear the papers rustling in the background. He knew that Alfred was really busy, yet he still spent his time to give him gifts like bears and flowers.

"You don't need to send me those things, you know."

A soft chuckle escaped Alfred's lips and it sounded so pure—so beautiful. Perhaps, this was how an angel's voice sound like in Heaven.

" _Why? I like doing that for you!_ " Alfred argued, and noisy sound of papers were all over the background. " _If you're thinking about the money, then don't worry. I spent them for you, after all!_ "

Arthur stood up from his position and put the dishes on the sink. He walked towards his bedroom quietly, his phone was still on his ears. "You need money to live too, Alfred—don't spend them for me. I don't need them," The Englishman mumbled, entering his room and climbed onto his bed. Tucking himself comfortably, Arthur hugged the big teddy bear as he stared at his room ceiling.

" _It's okay! I still have enough money to buy myself some food, don't worry! And besides, I don't want you to feel lonely, so I gave you my replace—_ "

"Nothing could replace you, Alfred," Arthur's voice sounded slightly deep as he whispered, closing his eyes slowly. "I don't want those gifts you called as your replacement. Because I only want _you_."

Alfred fell silent and both of them could only hear the sound of each other's breath through the phone. The American was the first to break the silence. " _Arthur—_ "

"I miss you, Alfred. A lot," The older man whispered again, this time sounding a little bit helpless. "—I miss you."

Judging from the silence he got from across the pond, Arthur guessed that right now, Alfred must be smiling like an idiot he was. That thought made him smile too. The thought of Alfred had never failed to cheer him up during times like this when he really missed his dearest American so much.

" _I miss you too, y'know_ ," Alfred laughed and Alfred was awestruck upon hearing it. " _But my job's not finished yet. You gonna have to wait, Artie._ "

Arthur let out an exasperated sigh and covered his eyes with his arm. The lamp was too bright. "And for how long I still have to wait, exactly?"

" _Dunno—three or four more months maybe?_ "

A frown made its way on Arthur's face. He didn't want to wait that long. He wanted to see Alfred, like, right now. He want to see him so badly, to feel that soft skin against his fingertips, to tangle his fingers between his golden locks, to intertwine their fingers together, to look at those pair of blue skies, to smell him, to see that dazzling smile that could make people go blind.

And most importantly, to feel how soft Alfred's lips could be, and to taste him until Arthur melted completely in his arms...

The Englishman blinked thrice and shook his head to erase the thoughts from his head. His face was slightly red and he cursed at himself for thinking about things like that. _Seriously_ , this wasn't the proper time to think about something like that!

"Can't you go home faster?" Arthur asked, slightly pleading. His heart ached as he took a deep breath. He missed Alfred so much.

Alfred sighed and it seemed that the American shook his head. " _Can't_ ," he reciprocated. " _Sorry, darlin'. I'd love to, but I can't_."

It was silent afterwards and neither Arthur nor Alfred dared to break the silence. But it wasn't an awkward one—it was a comfortable silence, which both of them enjoyed. They listened to each other's breathing and knowing that their hearts beat for each other, and that they lived for each other—that was satisfying enough for both of them.

But then, something noisy fell down, breaking the silence between them. Arthur was the first one to talk when he heard Alfred mumbling, " _shit_ ," to himself in a low voice.

"Alfred? What's wrong?"

" _Uh, n-no—_ " Alfred sounded slightly in panic as he tried to do something, which Arthur didn't know. " _My guitar just fell down._ "

"Guitar?" Arthur mumbled curiously. What was Alfred doing with his guitar? Shouldn't he do the papers right now if he wanted to come back faster? "Aren't you doing your papers right now, Alfred?"

Alfred mumbled about something, but Arthur couldn't make out what the American was saying. All he could make out was something about practicing, but he didn't really hear much about practicing for what.

"I see." Was all Arthur could say as he fiddled with the bear's fur. "So... You really can't go home faster?"

" _I'm afraid I can't._ "

The Englishman laid restlessly on the bed, rolling to the left and to the right every two minutes and clenched his fist hard. "...Alright," He finally said after a moment, pinching the bridge of his nose as he was tired. "Just—take care of yourself well, alright? I don't want to hear that you fall ill or something similar."

Arthur could hear Alfred grin and he pictured that silly trademark grin plastered on Alfred's face. " _Okay! Don't worry!_ "

"Right. And you don't have to send me gifts anymore, I'm okay."

" _Uh-uh_." Alfred answered before he shouted happily about something. " _Oh, Artie! I'm really sorry, I'd really love to talk to you more, but I gotta go—I'm in the middle of doing something important now!_ "

A fond smile played along Arthur's lips. Hearing Alfred getting so worked up like that was a good thing. It felt like the usual Alfred—the cheerful and hardworking Alfred. Arthur nodded. "Don't worry about me. Just do what you need to do first."

" _Alright-y then!_ " The American cheered excitedly again about something and Arthur couldn't resist not to laugh. " _Talk to you soon, babe! Good night, love ya!_ "

And in a hurry, Alfred ended the call.

Arthur stared at his mobile and blinked twice—it seemed that he was still in the middle of trying to understand what had just happened. When he did, he quickly put his mobile on the nightstand and grinned like a teenage girl in love.

The Englishman let out a content sigh and turned off the bedroom lamp before closing his eyes to sleep.

* * *

Arthur woke up the next morning at 9 to the sound of birds chirping noisily near the window. It was Saturday and the sun was shining brightly. It was extremely rare for the sun to shine for almost two days in a row in England, but well—maybe this was a sign that today would be a good day too.

He got up quickly and showered as usual, not forgetting to kiss his bear a good morning kiss and tidy up his room before leaving the bedroom.

Arthur loved Saturdays. Saturdays were always peaceful and were the only time Arthur could really relax during the weekends. Usually, when Alfred was still here, both of them would spend their Saturdays at the apartment, with Arthur reading his books and Alfred playing his video games. There were also times when both of them went out to do some grocery shopping, or just shop for anything they needed.

Or, in the evening, they would go out to watch a movie and eat dinner together afterwards.

Everything felt exciting with Alfred by Arthur's side.

But now that he was alone, Arthur felt rather bored. He had finished reading all of his books—he had even re-read all of them again from the very beginning. The Englishman was also not in the mood to go out, so he thought that maybe he would spend his weekend inside this week.

As usual, a Brit couldn't go on without a cup of tea. Arthur walked towards the kitchen to make himself a warm cup of tea, sipping the brown liquid slowly when it was ready. He sat on the sofa in the living room and turned on the telly.

With a bored expression, Arthur stared at the telly and changed the channel a lot of times, but nothing from those channels really sparked his interest.

Long story short, he was _extremely_ bored.

Perhaps he would continue his knitting later in the afternoon. But what should he do to entertain himself right now?

Arthur took out his laptop and decided to continue typing his blasted document when he had the time.

3 hours passed and soon, Arthur found himself hungry. It was almost noon and the Englishman decided that it was time to eat now.

His phone buzzed noisily when he was about to prepare his lunch and Arthur quickly ran to fetch his mobile. Who knew—perhaps it was Alfred calling and Arthur didn't want to miss any chance to talk with his beloved.

But no, it wasn't a call. It was an email, sent by _theamericanhero04@gmail.com_ to him. Arthur's eyebrow was raised when he saw the mail.

"What's this...?" He frowned when he saw the mail—it was short, but there was a video attached to it.

_Hey Artie!  
I practiced this for u ;) hope u like it!_

_Attachment: video.mp4_

Something Alfred practiced for him... Arthur gasped slightly. Did last night, the thing he did with his guitar...

_I'm in the middle of doing something important now!_

Was Alfred singing a song for him...?

Arthur quickly tapped the attachment to open it and had to wait for several seconds for the video to load before he could see it.

And there Alfred was on his mobile screen! Arthur couldn't believe it. It was Alfred— _his_ Alfred. Arthur missed him so much. Ah—how many weeks had passed since he last saw him?

" _Hey Artie!_ " Alfred talked to the video and rubbed his nape unconsciously. Arthur smiled slightly, his eyes were a little bit watery. He knew Alfred must be extremely nervous.

" _So, well—I'm gonna sing for you,_ " He continued, and Arthur just stared at his beloved while smiling and shaking his head.

Alfred took his guitar and started strumming for a moment—probably to check the guitar first. " _Right. The song's called 'Hero', because y'know_ ," and there he went, flashing his trademark grin that Arthur had fallen completely for.

" _I'm your hero!_ "

And everything inside Arthur crumbled as the tears swimming on his eyes finally rolled down his cheeks. Silly Alfred—doing things like this, didn't he know that this affected him so much? His chest felt warm and all feelings he had for Alfred bubbled inside of him.

_I miss him._

Alfred started strumming the guitar for real now, and the living room was silent, except for the soft sound of guitar played by Alfred. Arthur kept on staring and Alfred's expression was so sincere as he parted his lips and started to sing.

 

_Let me be your hero_

_Would you dance if I asked you to dance?_  
_Would you run and never look back?_  
_Would you cry if you saw me crying?_  
_Would you save my soul tonight?_

_Would you tremble if I touched your lips?_  
_Would you laugh? Oh, please tell me this_  
_Now would you die for the one you love?_  
_Hold me in your arms, tonight_  
_I can be your hero, baby_  
_I can kiss away the pain_  
_I will stand by you forever_  
_You can take my breath away_

_Would you swear that you'll always be mine?_  
_Would you lie? Would you run and hide?_  
_Am I in too deep? Have I lost my mind?_  
_I don't care_  
_You're here tonight_  
_I can be your hero, baby_  
_I can kiss away the pain_  
_I will stand by you forever_  
_You can take my breath away_

_Oh, I just want to hold you_  
_I just want to hold you, oh, yeah_

_Am I in too deep? Have I lost my mind?_  
_Well, I don't care_  
_You're here tonight_  
_I can be your hero, baby_  
_I can kiss away the pain, oh, yeah_  
_I will stand by you forever_  
_You can take my breath away_

_(I can be your hero, baby)_  
_I can be your hero_  
_I can kiss away the pain_  
_And I will stand by you forever_  
_You can take my breath away_  
_You can take my breath away_

_I can be your hero_

 

Alfred ended his song with a big goofy smile on his face, his fingers still strumming a few notes before the song officially came to an end. Arthur wiped the tears on his face and breathed slowly. That was really embarrassing, wasn't it?

"Silly... Wanker..." The Englishman whispered as Alfred said his goodbye to the screen and turned the camera off—which was the end of the video. Arthur immediately dialed Alfred's number and waited for the American to answer

" _Hello? Artie?_ "

"You idiot," Arthur whispered, before staring at the ceiling with a sweet smile on his face.

"You can always be my hero."


	4. Folded Coloured Papers and an Instruction

Arthur didn't get enough sleep last night. He barely pulled an all-nighter to finish typing the documents because his boss, Ivan Braginski, wanted him to send them to his email by 7 in the morning.

So here Arthur was, sitting on a swing in his garden with a cup of tea after he had sent the documents.

If someone saw him right now, perhaps they would scream because he looked like a living zombie. His hair was messier than usual, there were eye bags under his eyes and a scowl was visible on his face. His mood was really bad and he felt like he could eat someone right at this moment.

The rain was pouring hard and the sound of water hitting against the swing's roof irked Arthur slightly. He brought his tea towards his lips and sipped it while inhaling the scent. Ah—it was calming.

Slightly, though.

Arthur stared at the sky. It was dark and grey and dull—just like his heart right now. Arthur sighed and stood up, putting one hand into the pocket of his trousers.

He entered his house and decided that it'd be the best time to take a bath right now. A warm bubble bath, perhaps. The Englishman set his cup down on the nightstand after he went inside his room and took off all of his clothes. He prepared the bath and once it was ready, Arthur put his feet into the tub.

Ah. Warm bubble bath was definitely the best bath in the world.

Sitting down on the tub with only his head and a little part of his feet visible, Arthur's gaze fell on his moving toes, though his thoughts were scattered somewhere else entirely.

About his job, about his life, about his co-workers, about his morning tea today that tasted a little bit sweeter than his liking—but mostly, his thoughts revolved around one particular American: _Alfred F. Jones_.

Alfred, Alfred, Alfred, Alfred, Alfred. Everything was always about Alfred. Alfred's hair, Alfred's eyes, Alfred's smile, Alfred's warm hugs, Alfred's scent, Alfred's kisses...

The green eyed male's cheeks turned rosy and he dipped himself more into the water until his lips couldn't be seen. His memory played again the events that occured for the past three days—about the gifts he received from Alfred.

The bears, the flowers, the song...

A small bubble popped softly near Arthur as he closed his eyes gently. He felt slightly dizzy and sleepy...

And then everything went black.

* * *

Arthur wasn't quite sure for how many hours he had fallen asleep, but all he knew was he woke up to the noisy sound of doorbell echoing throughout his house. He cleaned himself quickly and wore comfortable clothes before stepping out of the room while hugging the big brown teddy bear Alfred gave him.

(Yes, he was feeling extremely touchy today.)

He walked towards the front door and opened it after wearing his indoor sandals. The Englishman actually expected someone to appear in front of him, yet all he found before his eyes was only a small jar full of folded colour papers.

Curious, Arthur bent down to pick it up and closed the door afterwards. He inspected the jar and found a little label stuck onto one side of the jar.

_Red: Things I love about you (actually there are A LOT but here are some that I've listed!)_   
_Pink: Remember when..._   
_White: Things I want to do with you_

Arthur remembered seeing something similar like this. During lunch break a few days ago, he saw Francis scrolling through some pictures of jars similar to this one—jars full of coloured papers. Usually, the Frenchman would squeal about it and shout something about _l'amour_ , which Arthur usually ignored because he didn't understand.

The jar was wrapped using a pretty red ribbon with a small white card attached to it. Arthur stared suspiciously at the jar. There were also cards present when he got flowers as gifts from Alfred. Could this jar too...?

Arthur opened the card and expected the same beautiful handwriting like the one he encountered on the cards between the flowers, but this time, he got a slightly messy handwriting instead.

' _Open the papers in order of their numbers! :)_ '

He quickly checked the folded papers and yes, there were numbers written on them. He quickly sat on the sofa and opened the jar eagerly.

Arthur took a red folded paper out. The number written on it said '1', so the Englishman thought that this one was supposed to be opened first by him.

And so, he opened it.

' _Your eyes_ '

Arthur immediately blushed when he saw the words on the paper. He double-checked the little note stuck onto the jar and read the words on the red paper all over again.

He didn't read wrong. The words certainly spelt ' _your eyes_ '.

The sender loved his eyes. Arthur unconsciously blinked a few times and his face turned even redder than before. Well, a lot of people had complimented his eyes, actually. Even Alfred said that he really loved his green eyes and that they made him think of a forest full of shady trees after the rain—fresh and so green...

Arthur shook his head and took another coloured paper out. This time, it was the number '2' and it was pink.

' _We first met each other_ '

Arthur's memory immediately replayed the time when he first met Alfred. Alfred was a new co-worker in his office, transferred from the office's American branch. He was so bright and fresh and young and he looked practically glowing that Arthur felt he could go blind if he stared at him for too long. Both of them first met at the corridor when Arthur was walking towards his room and Alfred was just drinking a cup of coffee.

When their eyes met each other, Arthur thought that he had just seen an angel fell down in front of him from Heaven because God—he was _perfect_.

And of course, the Englishman could never forget the wink and the smile Alfred gave to him, and how hot his face felt when their eye contact broke and he walked away, covering his tomato-like face with a folder on his hands.

But of course, Arthur couldn't deny that he liked it.

Alfred was always full of energy and he was extremely friendly and he had never declined invitations to eat together with other workers. He was always ready to help other people (like Arthur) if they had problems with the computers (as he worked in the IT department). He was very nice and was always smiling anytime and anywhere.

And he was really handsome too.

This was the reason why he was extremely popular among the ladies in just a short time. He was easygoing and he was handsome—what more could a person ask? He was the perfect boyfriend—though he could get really annoying, childish and clumsy sometimes.

But those were the things that made him fall for the clumsy American. Arthur always thought that Alfred was perfect, because hey—he was friendly, he was smart, he had a good body and he was handsome! Who would've thought that someone like him could be extremely forgetful and childish?!

(Though, perhaps Arthur's forgetfullness was even way worser than Alfred's. But Arthur would never admit that.)

A gentle smile appeared on Arthur's face as he took out the third paper. This time, it was the white one, which meant things the sender wanted to do with him.

' _Ride on a ferris wheel together_ '

Arthur couldn't help but to chuckle upon reading the words. He knew it—Alfred was behind this. He remembered that one time when Alfred told him how much he wanted to ride a ferris wheel together with Arthur.

The fifth paper was a red one again and the words written on it were, ' _the way you look at me, it's always full of love_ '. Arthur blushed and folded the paper again neatly and shyly before taking out the sixth paper. The sixth one was pink and ' _when we had our first date_ ' was written there.

This one—how could Arthur forget about their first date? Their very first date, where Arthur came fifteen minutes earlier than the promised time, and Alfred was fifteen minutes late.

It was horrible because they also had their very first argument that day, but they managed to enjoy themselves anyway. The date ended well and Alfred even gave him a good night forehead kiss (Arthur couldn't forget that one no matter how embarrassing it seemed for him) before he left.

The seventh one was white and it was ' _going around the world together_ '. A memory surfaced on Arthur's head, specifically when both of them were eating dinner on a fancy restaurant and Alfred talked about his dream, which was going all around the world together with Arthur.

He took out the eighth, ninth and tenth, and all of them were red. The eighth one was ' _your smile_ ', the ninth was ' _your expression when you frown/scowl, you look somewhat cute_ ' and the tenth was ' _your accent_ '.

Alfred once told him that he loved Arthur's smile. Quoting the American: " _it was like seeing an angel's smile_." Arthur had to hit him afterwards because he was embarrassed.

No one loved seeing Arthur scowling. Whether it was outside or inside the apartment, when he was working or not, almost everyone avoided Arthur when he had that nasty scowl plastered onto his face. It could only mean one thing when he scowled: _hell_. But hey—Arthur never knew that Alfred liked it. And he even said that his scowl was cute!

Arthur wasn't surprised his accent was written there too. Many people said that british accent was sexy and it seemed that Alfred had a thing for it. He always said that Arthur's voice always turned him on and he had never failed to make Arthur blush every time he heard that.

Including now—his face was already as red as a crab.

The eleventh was pink and it was ' _I confessed to you and we had our first kiss_ '.

Of course—how could Arthur forget about that one too?

It was on Saturday and it was a rare, sunny day in England, when both of them went out to the park to have a picnic.

They sat down under a big, bushy tree and it was wonderful. The lunch was delicious (prepared by Alfred, of course), the sun was shining brightly and they talked and laughed for hours.

They talked and laughed about everything and when silence fell among them, neither dared to talk. Both were nervous, and Arthur remembered how close their hands were. The Englishman had that big urge to intertwine their fingers together (and so did the American, actually), but neither had the courage to do it.

Alfred was the one who initiated the conversation first afterwards.

"Hey, Artie."

Arthur remembered looking towards his right where Alfred sat at, his expression confused and his eyebrows raised. "Yes, Alfred?"

Alfred flashed him a nervous smile and Arthur swore Alfred's eyes had never been that blue before when their eyes met.

"Y'know," He started, rubbing his nape awkwardly and coughed for a few times. "Uh, how to say this..."

Still waiting, the older man didn't say anything and waited for Alfred to continue.

When Alfred took a really deep breath and stared at him deeply—as if he was trying to pierce him open just by staring—Arthur's heart beat faster than before. The American looked really serious and Arthur could only guess what would happen next.

"I'll say this only for one time, alright?" He mumbled, his face red and he looked like he was really nervous, but he kept his eyes on Arthur's.

"I love you."

Arthur remembered being really surprised at the sudden confession and he only stared back at Alfred dumbly. "Uh, well—"

"Look, I know this is really sudden," Alfred tried to explain and he moved his hands in a funny way that Arthur had to force himself not to burst out chuckling. "But I've loved you for a really long time. Y'know—since the first time I saw you."

"Are you serious?" The Englishman replied, unsure on what to say. "Why me? There are many other people out there who are better than me, Alfred. You deserve someone who's better than me."

Alfred's hands cupped Arthur's cheeks and it fitted—like they were made to be. Arthur's cheeks immediately began to turn shades of red and soon, Alfred's too began to turn slightly rosy.

"You're the only one for me, Artie," He remembered Alfred whispering, looking straight into him like Arthur was the only thing in his world that he could see. "I want nobody else. Believe me that my love for you is real."

And Arthur remembered crying afterwards. He was such a crybaby, really. He remembered nodding and saying that he loved Alfred too and that he was really glad his feelings were reciprocated, and he remembered Alfred smiling for him and wiping his tears, whispering to him that Arthur didn't need to cry again now that the American was there for him to protect him, and then Alfred asked for his permission if he could kiss him, and Arthur remembered nodding and Alfred's face began to move closer towards him—

And when they kissed, everything just felt _right_. Like they had found their missing souls and they were made to be together forever.

It was just _that_ right.

Arthur had to press the urge to cry as he took out another coloured paper and opened it. It was the twelfth—a white paper.

' _Having a family one day with you_.'

Having his own little family with Alfred had always been Arthur's dream. He knew Alfred was great with kids and he knew that the American would be a great father one day. Arthur wanted to build his own family with Alfred someday and was happy to know that the American thought about the same thing as him.

It was almost 4 in the afternoon when Arthur finished opening the thirteenth and fourteenth papers. Both of them were pink with ' _our first big fight_ ' and ' _we went to the beach together_ ' were written on them. Their first big fight was something Arthur didn't really remember anymore because well—remembering it would only bring pain for both of them.

But of course, he remembered their visit to the beach as clear as the day. It was fun and lovely, though he didn't swim at all and just spent the entire day sunbathing, whereas contrary to him, Alfred spent the entire day playing in the water.

The last two papers left inside the jar was marked '15' and '16', but one of them wasn't red, pink, or white coloured.

It was blue—like Alfred's twin irises.

He decided to open the '15' one first. It was white, and when Arthur opened it, Arthur swore he had to bite his lip hard to conceal all the feelings that were threatening to burst out of his chest. But still, some tears rolled down and Arthur was torn between smiling and crying.

It was ' _growing old and spending my last days with you_ '.

He put the paper aside and wiped his tears, sobbing to himself for a moment because of all those feelings bubbling inside of him

After making sure that he was slightly calmer than before, Arthur took out. the last paper—the blue one. He frowned as he stared at the very blue colour and the number '16' written on it.. _What could this one be?_ He thought as he opened the paper.

But all he got was only an instruction.

' _8, Francis Bonnefoy_ '.

Another code thing again? Arthur spent a few minutes raking his head for possible answers, but nothing went across his mind. It was blank—totally blank.

The Englishman snorted. Well, he had to meet Francis then, whether he liked it or not. Arthur tidied the papers and put them back into the jar, closing it tightly with a smile and went to his room. Putting the jar on the nightstand, Arthur's smile got wider after he remembered all the words written on the paper.

He went out of the room and closed the door with a happy face and warm feelings bubbling inside his chest.


	5. The Last Surprise (Pt. 1)

The next day when Arthur arrived at the office, he quickly went to look for Francis inside his room. But it was empty. The Englishman frowned as he walked towards a vending machine to buy tea.

Now, that was strange. Usually, it was easy to find the Frenchman because he liked to walk around—whether to sightsee, pass the time or just flirting with the ladies.

(Yes, as much as he hated Francis, he couldn’t ignore the fact that the Frenchman was way more popular rather than him.)

Arthur inserted a few coins and pressed the button on the machine to buy the canned tea. Once gotten, he quickly open it and gulped it down.

Ah. It was good, but sadly the taste didn’t match his personal liking.

Arthur sighed. It was already 9 in the morning, but Francis was nowhere to be seen. How unusual. He finally decided to walk around the office in an attempt to find the Frenchman and to get some fresh air.

Soon enough, he found himself wandering aimlessly at the office garden. He saw Yao, the Chinese secretary, who was in the middle of watering the plants while hugging a stuffed panda. It was no secret anymore that Wang Yao loved stuffed pandas and always carried one everywhere—as much as Arthur loved tea, stuffed bears and unicorns.

And Alfred too, of course.

“Good morning, Yao,” Arthur greeted the older male and Yao replied with a smile.

“ _Zao shang hao_ , Arthur!” He reciprocated energetically. His eyes were focused on the flowers. The garden’s flowers were grown by Yao, Kiku and Arthur himself. The Englishman squatted beside Yao as he stared at the flowers, his fingers played with the flowers’ petals.

“How are you, _aru_?” Yao asked, staring at Arthur from the corner of his eyes.

“So-so.” Arthur mumbled and Yao hummed softly as he nodded his head.

It was silence afterwards. Arthur wasn’t quite close with Yao and it was always awkward when both of them were left alone. So Arthur decided to ask Yao about Francis and proceeded to clear his throat.

“By any chance, have you seen Francis somewhere, Yao?” Arthur asked and he looked upwards to see Yao’s face. The Chinese seemed lost in his thoughts for a moment before he nodded gently.

“Yes, _aru_ ,” he said. “He’s out, I think. I met him at the corridor when I went out of my room to water the plants.” Yao frowned slightly as he continued. “He looked like he’s in a hurry to do something, _aru_.”

That was suspicious. In a hurry to do something… What could the Frenchman be doing? Did it have something to do with the instruction he got on the paper? Arthur wasn’t quite sure. He didn’t know what he had to do—unless he found and asked Francis, of course.

“Do you know where he’s gone to?” Arthur asked again and stood up, cleaning his clothes from the imaginary dirt, yet his eyes never left Yao.

Yao shook his head. “ _Bu zhi dao_ ,” he told him. “But when I met him, he was on the phone with someone. I think it has something to do with what he’s doing right now.” Yao explained.

The Englishman flashed a smile towards Yao as he patted the Chinese man gently on his shoulder. “Alright, I’ll go check on him myself, then,” Arthur mumbled. “Thank you for the informations, Yao!”

He walked away from Yao after waving towards the Chinese and entered the building again. Arthur took out his mobile and searched for Francis’ name in his phonebook, then pressed the call button once he got it.

“ _Oui_ , _Arthur?_ ” Francis’ voice rang on the phone and Arthur took a deep breath.

“Francis, where are you right now?” He asked, resting his back against the wall of his room. There were noisy sounds from the phone and it seemed as if Francis was running.

Arthur couldn’t hear really clearly when Francis talked and he had to make Francis repeat his words. “ _Park_ ,” the Frenchman simply said. “ _Did you receive the instruction on the paper? Which is the reason why you’re looking for me, isn’t it?_ ”

The younger male just snorted at his words. He ignored him as he exited his room and started running towards the building’s exit door. “Don’t go anywhere. I’ll be right there in five minutes.”

Francis chuckled and Arthur wanted to punch his face. Francis’ laugh just annoyed the hell out of him. “ _Just come here quickly. If you don’t come in five minutes, I’ll lea—_ ”

Arthur ended the call and sprinted towards the park. It was cloudy and Arthur hoped it wouldn’t rain—not today, please. He ran and ran—thank goodness the park wasn’t located too far from his office. It was only twenty minutes walking, actually. Faster if one ran with all his might.

Soon, he could see the ferris wheel from afar. A relieved sigh managed to escape Arthur’s lips as he entered the park and began to look for Francis. Strange—the park was empty. Arthur shrugged and kept on looking. Oh well, he thought, it would be better rather than searching in the middle of other people.

After fifteen minutes searching, Arthur finally found Francis, standing beside an empty cotton candy stand. The Frenchman’s gaze was fixed on his mobile, his fingers typing something on the keyboard.

When Arthur came closer, Francis looked up and his gaze fell on Arthur, who was marching closer with a scowl on his face. “ _Arthur!_ ” He called, a bright smile on his face.

“Don’t ‘ _Arthur!_ ’ me, you frog!” The Englishman hissed as he reached Francis’ shirt collar and grabbed it. “I’ve spent fifteen bloody minutes just to find you!”

“ _Calm down, Arthur!_ ” Francis shouted Arthur released his grip on Francis’ collar. The Frenchman let out a relieved sigh, silently rejoicing because he had just barely escaped hell. The older male patted Arthur’s back (who looked extremely scary with his scowl plastered on his face right now) and grinned mischievously. “Don’t wear such an ugly look! You’re going to have a lot of fun today!”

Arthur folded his arms in front of his chest and snorted. “Have fun, you said,” he mumbled and rolled his eyes. “Was that sarcasm?” Because seriously, Arthur could never have fun if the Frenchman was near him.

“ _Non_ , of course!” Francis put a hand over his chest and a hurt expression was plastered upon his face. Arthur rolled his eyes and smacked Francis on his head and received a shout from the Frenchman.

“So, what does this number mean?” Arthur took out the blue paper from his pocket and showed Francis. There was written the number ‘8’ and Francis just smiled when he saw Arthur’s confused expression.

The Frenchman’s eyes twinkled in amusement as he explained to Arthur. “You need to do several challenges from today until the day after tomorrow, and—” His finger touched the paper, pointing towards the number, “—if you succeed, you’ll get gifts and a number that could be exchanged with something later in the end.”

A bushy eyebrow was raised. “Who planned this?”

“Alfred, of course.” Francis shrugged. “Don’t get mad at me. I was just asked to help him.”

Arthur rolled his eyes and sighed. Of course, he should’ve known it! Only Alfred who would plan something as ridiculous as this activity—and he’d have fun, he said! The Englishman rolled his eyes. Nope. Not at all.

“Fine.” Arthur replied. “Just be quick and tell me what I need to do.” 

* * *

 

Arthur scoffed as he walked along the dark corridor. It was creepy inside, but Arthur wasn’t scared at all. Silly Alfred—did he really think that he, Arthur, would get scared by walking inside a haunted house?

_No_ , of course!

He walked quietly as he passed some scary skeletons. Arthur stared at them with a bored look on his face. Come on, was this something you’d call a challenge? It wasn’t challenging at all!

Except if there was a ghost inside here, and the ghost was his boss, Ivan. Because seriously, for Arthur, Ivan was way scarier than any ghost ever.

Footsteps echoed softly as he stepped his feet carefully on the wooden floor. He remembered Francis’ words before he went inside the haunted house: if you want to succeed, bring out a rose hidden somewhere inside the house. But be careful—don’t get yourself caught by the ghost inside.

Arthur had walked around for about six minutes—almost seven—but he didn’t see or encounter the ghost at all. Was Francis just trying to scare him? Arthur didn’t know. All he knew was he had to get that bloody rose quickly and got out of this stupid house as soon as possible.

He turned his head towards the left and the right—everywhere, hoping that he would see the rose.

A moment afterwards, he rejoiced to himself. There! The rose was there! He saw it, lying on top of an old looking cupboard. Arthur just needed to look for a chair, climb on it, take the rose and get out out this haunted house.

And thus, he began to look for a chair. He looked here and there, but there was no chair. Arthur was getting annoyed as he ruffled his hair, feeling frustrated. Just when he was mumbling to himself about how stupid this was, he heard the sound of footsteps.

The footsteps that _weren’t_ his.

Arthur’s heartbeat increased. Someone was coming. Was that Francis or was that someone else? Arthur didn’t know. He could only pray, let that be a real ghost. Let that be a real ghost and not my boss…

It would be bad if he hallucinated and saw Ivan standing in front of him.

“ _Privyet_ , Arthur.” A voice suddenly greeted him and Arthur’s heartbeat felt like it almost stopped. That voice sounded scarily similar to Ivan’s—and it was talking in Russian!

Arthur laughed half-heartedly. That wasn’t Ivan, right? Ivan must be at the office, inside his room right now, doing all of his works! Yes, he must be hallucinating. “You’re not Ivan, by any chance, aren’t you?” He mumbled, and the next thing he saw was a face.

Ivan’s face. Popping from behind the wall in front of him. With that innocent smile plastered on his face.

“It is me, Arthur!”

It was silence for a few moment, and suddenly, a loud, scared scream echoed throughout the house and reached the outside. Francis just smiled as he played with his mobile, wishing Arthur the best luck in doing the challenge.

“I-I-Ivan?!” Arthur’s voice sounded trembling and beads of sweat started forming. He walked backwards and when his back hit a wall, Arthur knew that he was stuck and that this was the end of him. “Wha-What are you doing here?!”

Ivan appeared before his eyes, still smiling that innocent smile—though, for Arthur, it was the scariest smile he had ever seen in his life. “Isn’t it clear enough? I’m here to catch you!”

Arthur screamed again and colours drained from his face. He started to run like mad and Ivan chase him from behind. Now, two things were inside Arthur’s mind: _one_ , how to get a chair and take the rose and escape, and _two_ , safe himself from Ivan, whatever the method was.

The Englishman didn’t know where he was running to—he was just running aimlessly, trying to lose Ivan somehow in the middle of running. But no, the Russian had eagle-like eyes and it was like impossible to lose him.

Arthur started to think harder. How can I search for a chair and escape?!

“Don’t run away, Arthur!” Ivan said in a sing-song voice. “You still haven’t given me the documents that are due today!”

“What docume—OW!”

He didn’t look towards the front and accidentally tripped himself and fell down. Arthur groaned as he rubbed his head, a scowl visible on his face before he blinked twice to make sure what he was seeing right now was right.

There, before his eyes, was a chair.

A chair! Arthur cheered to himself. His life was spared! Thank goodness!

Arthur quickly ran to hide himself nearby. Thankful that the place was poorly lit, Arthur silently prayed for Ivan to pass him. And he cheered again when Ivan really passed him, missing him completely. Arthur chuckled evilly and brought the chair quietly back to the place where he first found the cupboard, trying his best not too make noises that could attract Ivan.

When he had found the place, he put the chair in front of the cupboard and climbed up, easily taking the rose. Arthur smiled proudly and headed towards the exit, running to save his dear life from Ivan Braginski.

Arthur thanked God when he saw the sunlight outside—he was truly grateful he could be outside right now, away from a monster named Ivan. He sighed in relief as he handed Francis the rose, who was laughing like crazy to himself. Arthur hit Francis in irritation, but the Frenchman just smiled in amusement.

“Well done, _mon ami!_ ” Francis clapped and congratulated him. “How was it inside?”

“Bloody brilliant.” Arthur answered sarcastically. “Now, where’s my present? I think I really did well and deserve a good present.”

Francis’ hand went inside his pocket and he pulled a sweet out from it. _A bloody sweet._

He did everything and fought Ivan off just to earn a bloody sweet?! Absolutely, wonderfully brilliant. Arthur put a flat expression upon seeing the colourful wrapper and Francis bursted out laughing again. “ _Merde!_ ”

“What?!” Arthur argued angrily.

Francis pointed towards his face, trying his best not to laugh again. “Your face—you looked really stupid!”

Arthur really wanted to punch Francis right now. Calm down, Arthur, he told himself and took a deep breath. Scowling, he stared at Francis, irritated. “Don’t make me waste any more time, frog.”

Francis handed him the sweet and gave him a book too. Arthur’s eyes went wide upon seeing the cover. It was a book he really wanted for a very long time, but couldn’t buy it because it was extremely expensive. But it was there, on his hands, right before his eyes! Arthur averted his gaze from the book and gave a confused look at Francis.

“Don’t ask me. Alfred prepared it,” Francis said and smiled, folding his arms in front of his chest. “I know nothing about it—except the candy.” He grinned and Arthur threw the sweet back at him in annoyance.

The Frenchman then proceeded to give him his sticker—an orange sticker of the number ‘8’.

“Now, are you ready for more?” Francis winked at Arthur and Arthur sighed. It would be a really long day today.

* * *

 

Arthur stared at the five stickers he had right now. He had obtained ‘8’, ‘1’, ’16’, ’16’ and ’25’. What could these numbers mean...?

Beside him, Francis inhaled a deep breath and exhaled it again. Arthur had done five challenges and they were all silly, really. Entering a haunted house, popping balloons while riding the moving teacups (Arthur didn’t know what the name of the attraction was), even a scone-making challenge! He was Arthur Kirkland, duh! Perfectly skilled in making scones! Yet, he failed the challenge several times until Francis couldn’t bear to taste his scones anymore and he gave up, earning him the present and sticker effortlessly. Arthur was annoyed. There was absolutely nothing wrong with his scones!

It was almost 6 in the evening by now and both of them were exhausted. Arthur decided to go home and continue his challenges tomorrow. He bid Francis a half-hearted goodbye and walked towards his house. He spent the time during the walking by staring at the gifts. Honestly, they weren’t cheap gifts—most of them were expensive and they were what Arthur had wanted all this time! Three books, a DVD and a big, green unicorn plush—seriously, he had told Alfred not to spend money on the gifts! But it seemed his words fell on deaf ears.

Arthur arrived home and showered quickly. He wasn’t in the mood for eating dinner and plopped to bed afterwards. Staring at the sticker he put on the nightstand, he thought about lots of things. What could those numbers mean? Did he need to figure their meaning by himself, like what he did when he found the numbers on the cards three days ago?

The Englishman yawned widely. The day was exhausting, of course, but he also couldn’t deny that he had fun. When was the last time he enjoyed himself like this? To be free from his work and just have fun to the fullest. Arthur made a note to thank Alfred later before turning off the lamp and prepared to sleep.

He had more challenges to do tomorrow and some numbers to figure out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> eximicus here speaking.
> 
> hi guys!!! i'm just here to inform you that this chapter (The Last Surprise) will be three chapters long (until the end). and i want to apologize if this chapter seemed slightly weird because i don't know how to start this chapter tbh. i'll try my best not to make chapter 6 weirder than this one!! thank you for reading and as usual, pls point out the mistakes if you see them!


	6. The Last Surprise (Pt. 2)

Arthur's alarm woke him up exactly at 05:30 and the Englishman made its way out of the bed lazily with a scowl on his face. He still wanted to sleep, but hell—he still had those stupid challenges to do today.

The Englishman showered for no more than five minutes and he dressed up as fast as a lightning. He had woken up at 2 today to finish all his jobs and sent them to Ivan's email before he went to sleep again at 04:30, as he was taking a day off today. Arthur yawned as he put on his jumper and drank his warm tea in a gulp before setting his feet out of his apartment.

As he was walking, Arthur took out a piece of blue folded paper Francis gave him yesterday. There were the number ' _2_ ' and the name ' _Kiku Honda_ ' written on it.

So, today, his companian was the stoic-faced Kiku?

What is Alfred planning exactly? Arthur thought as his feet brought him towards a place he had never gone to before.

" _Ohayou gozaimasu_ , Arthur- _san_ ," Kiku greeted him when the Japanese saw him entering the park—their meeting place—and bowed politely.

"Good morning to you too, Kiku," Arthur greeted back and smiled slightly. "So... I have to do some challenges with you, correct...?"

Kiku nodded. " _Ha'i_ ," he muttered. "The first one is really simple—you don't need to worry about this."

Arthur nodded too. From the way Kiku explained about it, the challenge seemed really... simple. Like it wasn't as challenging as the challenges he had yesterday with Francis.

Kiku smiled at him and pointed at some people that were starting to fill the park in. "Do you see those people sitting around, Arthur- _san?_ "

"Yes."

"Right," Kiku cleared his throat and started explaining. "You just need to go to them, say hello, ask them how is their day and wish them a good day afterwards. Then, you can leave."

Arthur frowned. Wait, no—it was not as simple as one might've thought. You see, Arthur wasn't the type of person who liked to socialize with other people. Moreover with strangers. How could Alfred expect him to come up to strangers, say hello and chat with them before wishing them to have a good day?

The Englishman sighed. It certainly was a simple mission, though for him it was hard to do, as it needed a lot of courage that he didn't possess.

He wasn't a social person—Alfred was.

"Oh, and remember—you have to do it five times with five different people." Kiku added.

Arthur sighed and nodded lazily, before walking towards an old lady sitting peacefully on the park bench. He sat down beside her and cleared his throat awkwardly.

"Good morning, ma'am," he started, a little bit awkward. The old lady turned her head towards him and smiled at him.

"Good morning to you too, young man," she replied, her eyes looked like they were glowing. She seemed happy Arthur talked to her—Arthur noticed that she looked lonely and slightly sad just now, before he talked to her. He proceeded to ask about how her day was and she replied that it had been wonderful up to then. They talked about lots of things and Arthur was grateful he talked with her because really, he liked seeing a smile adorning the old lady's face. He was happy he could bring happiness to someone else.

When he felt that it was enough, Arthur bid her goodbye and wished her to have a good day. He left her with a happy feeling on hus chest and proceeded to find the next person.

About fifteen minutes or so afterwards, Arthur bid his goodbye to his last people—a newly married couple and wished them to have a good day. They waved to him and said their goodbyes and Arthur left again to find Kiku.

He spotted Kiku beneath a shady tree, playing with his mobile and a serious expression painted onto his face. He approached him closer and Kiku averted his gaze upon feeling him walking closer towards him. The Englishman sat himself beside Kiku and the Japanese nodded slightly.

"How are you feeling right now?" He asked, his eyes stared right at the vast blue sky above them.

Arthur averted his gaze towards the sky too and one thing that crossed his mind was that the sky's colour made him remember the colour of Alfred's beautiful, bright blue irises.

"Wonderful." Arthur replied calmly as a fond smile played along his lips. His cheeks flushed slightly and he felt content. "It's been a long time since I last talked with strangers like that. I feel... great—" he told him and took a deep breath, "—and peaceful. It was nice."

Kiku hummed in agreement and nodded his head. "You rarely talk with strangers like that and Alfred- _kun_ thought you need to open up more to other people and then he made you talk to strangers." Kiku paused for a while and continued. "It does feel nice to be able to spread happiness for other people."

Arthur smiled and nodded, his green eyes blinked in contentment as his gaze, again, fell back towards the clear blue sky.

* * *

It was almost 02:45 in the afternoon when Arthur finally finished his last mission for today. Arthur wiped a sweat that was rolling down his temples, smiling and chatted with an ice cream seller beside him. His last mission was to help someone in the park and he saw the ice cream seller, deciding to help him sell ice creams to children and people.

It seemed that the theme today was ' _helping other people_ '. Arthur shook his head and smiled slightly. _How very Alfred_ , he thought, with his hero complex and the need to always help other people. Perhaps it might've rubbed off him and Arthur didn't know whether it was a good or bad idea.

But one thing he knew, he was happy to do all of this. Helping people and socialise with them weren't easy, but because of Alfred, he managed to do it. He thanked Alfred silently and admitted that yes, he really did have a good time doing these challenges.

He bid his goodbye to the ice cream seller and walked towards Kiku. The Japanese man smiled and handed him a cold orange juice when Arthur sat beside him, and the Englishman mumbled a soft "thank you," before opening the cap and gulped it down.

Kiku, who had a book on his hand (it seemed like he was reading peacefully before Arthur came ro him), closed his book and averted his attention towards him. "So, how do you feel, now that you've done today's challenges?" He asked.

"Bloody brilliant." Arthur answered eagerly. There was no sarcasm heard in his tone.

Kiku nodded. "Good," he mumbled and took out a few stickers and gifts for Arthur.

He handed Arthur stickers of the numbers '2', '9', '18', '20' and '8' with a meaningful smile when he saw Arthur frowned as the Englishman stared at the stickers. Kiku also handed Arthur two packs of his favourite tea, a scarf he had always wanted to buy, a rose and another thick novel that, Arthur knew, was expensive.

His eyes went wide upon seeing those gifts again. Really! How many times should he tell Alfred not to waste his money on these? Arthur's eyes watered slightly and he quickly wiped the tears that were threatening to roll down soon.

Alfred turned towards Kiku and he patted the Japanese man on his shoulder gently. "Thank you for your help, Kiku," he said, flashing him a gentle smile. "I apologise if Alfred was being troublesome."

" _Iie_ , I don't mind, Arthur- _san_ ," Kiku shook his head. "I am happy that I could be a help to Alfred- _kun_."

Both of them smiled and Arthur bid his goodbye to Kiku as the sun starting to move towards the west.

* * *

When Arthur arrived at home, it was already dark—inside and outside.

He turned the lamp on and put the gifts neatly inside his room. He sat down on the edge of the bed, collected all stickers he owned and arranged them neatly on his bed.

'8', '1', '16', '16', '25', '2', '9', '18', '20' and '8'.

Arthur frowned as he thought harder to find out what the numbers could mean.

The Englishman sat down and thought for a few minutes before sighing. Nothing went across his mind. The biggest number he had was '25' and the smallest number was '1'.

It was like the alphabet...

Arthur's body suddenly froze. That's it! He thought as a wide smile appeared on his face. Perhaps he had found the right answer to these mystery numbers, but Arthur wasn't quite sure.

He had to get the other remaining numbers to know exactly what they meant.

Arthur put the stickers back on the nightstand and went out of the room while hugging the big brown stuffed bear. As he was eating his dinner, a smile played along his lips when his mind recalled what he had done today and yesterday, Alfred's name occasionally popped when he was thinking about a certain event. How he wished time could go faster so that he could meet his lovely American sooner.

Oh well. At least from these challenges, he knew that Alfred was also thinking about him when he made the challenges.

As Arthur sipped his last spoonful of soup, he heard the sound of rain pouring down. Ah, rain—how he missed the rain. It was sunny for these past days and Arthur missed having rain near him. Listening to the sound of rain made his heart calmer and feel relaxed.

People said that rain was a sign of good fortune and luck.

Arthur could bet that tomorrow was going to be a good day too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> eximicus here speaking.
> 
> OKAY. i know i promised that i would make this chapter better than chapter 5.
> 
> i lied. in fact, it was way worser than chapter 6 and I AM SO SORRY OKAY.
> 
> i just really had no idea on how to write chapter 5 and 6. my brain just stuck and i couldn't really think of anything. it was rushed because yes, my mind was blank and i had nothing to type about again. i apologize for that and i hope that the last chapter i'm going to type soon can make up for these two chapters.
> 
> ANYWAY, don't worry because i already know what i am going to write for chapter 7, so this time i could say for sure that the last chapter won't be as lame as chapter 5 and 6.
> 
> forgive me if there are many mistakes on this chapter as this was unbeta-ed. thank you for reading up until this chapter and see you guys on the last one!


	7. The Last Surprise (Pt. 3)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> happy birthday to aph england a.k.a. arthur kirkland a.k.a. my precious son!!!<333

Arthur woke up to the sound of his mobile buzzing with an unread text message.

He groaned when the sound of alarm followed afterwards and decided that he had to wake up now. He sat down on the bed and blinked a few times, trying to regain all his senses back. His eyes were still half-closed and Arthur yawned, his fingers ruffling through his messy golden locks.

Arthur glanced at the alarm. It was 06:00 in the morning. He took his mobile and yawned again once before reading the message.

_From: Kiku Honda  
Sub: Mission_

_Ohayou gozaimasu, Arthur-san. Come to the amusement park at 07:30 and please go to the fluffy sweet stand to look for more clues._

_I wish you the best luck._

Arthur felt headache coming after he read Kiku's message. Another thing he had to solve? Just what was a 'fluffy sweet stand' was? Arthur groaned and stumbled out of the bed, walking towards the bathroom to brush his teeth and shower.

Once done, he kissed the bears good morning before went out of his room. He prepared himself his breakfast and daily cup of tea. He ate slowly and sipped his tea as he read the newspapers that just came a few minutes ago.

Afterwards, Arthur washed the dishes and cleaned the house quickly before reaching for his mobile and went out of his apartment.

The Englishman arrived at the amusement park quickly although the street was rather packed today. As he walked past the attractions, he racked his brain so as to find the answer about what a 'fluffy sweet stand' was.

It didn't take him a long time actually—that was when he walked past a cotton candy stand.

Arthur's eyes were staring at the cotton candy, almost walking past the stand if only he didn't stare right at those fluffy cottons.

Fluffy.

And it was sweet.

That's it! Arthur snapped his fingers and walked towards the stand. He saw the seller and smiled awkwardly towards him. "Excuse me, sir," he called the old man.

"Yes, young man?" He answered, a friendly smile tugged on his lips.

Arthur hesitated for a moment before inserting one hand into his pocket and fished for his wallet. "I want one, please."

As the old man proceeded to make his cotton candy, Arthur cleared his throat and started talking awkwardly. "Sir, may I ask you something?"

"Go on, young man," the answer came out of the seller's lips, his eyes focused on making Arthur's cotton candy.

"Was there someone who gave something to you...?" Arthur trailed off, unsure. "Like, a clue or something...?"

The seller's eyes twinkled slightly as he stared at Arthur with knowing eyes. "Ah! So you must be Sir Kirkland, then."

Arthur nodded. "Yes, indeed I am."

"A handsome young man told me to give you these things." The seller said before crouching down to take something. Arthur blushed slightly as he heard the word 'handsome' slipping off the seller's lips, remembering Alfred but _no_ , he told himself. Alfred was in America. There was _no_ way he would be here.

....Right?

There was no need to let his hope up high. Perhaps what the seller meant by 'handsome' was Francis. Or Kiku, or the others. There was no need to hope for things that seemed impossible to happen, because Alfred himself said that he wouldn't be home until the next three or four months.

The seller stood up and there were a piece of blue paper and the sticker of number '4' on his hands. He handed those to Arthur and smiled upon seeing Arthur frown.

"What's wrong, young man?" The friendly old man asked, averting his attention back to the forgotten cotton candy. "You look like you're thinking hard."

Arthur kept staring at the number '4' and sighed. "I was given a mistery involving these numbers to solve, but I have no idea what these numbers meant."

The old man finished Arthur's cotton candy and handed it to Arthur. When he received the payment, he looked thoughtful and smiled. "Young man," he called, "sometimes we have to see something from a different perspective."

Arthur received the cotton candy and thanked the old man, bidding him goodbye. He ate the cotton candy and started thinking about the old man's words.

Seeing something from a different perspective...

The Englishman sighed and opened the paper he received before. This time, it wasn't a food stand, it seemed.

' _When you're at the peak, you can see it_ '.

Strange, as usual. Arthur snorted. He shoved the paper away into his pocket and brought his feet to an attraction he hoped was the right answer to the riddle. 

* * *

The attraction wasn't really full of people when he arrived in front of the ferris wheel.

A rather young man (Arthur assumed that he was the worker) approached him, a paper and a camera on his hand.

"Hello!" He greeted him once he got closer. He looked like he was almost twenty—perhaps 18 or so. A bright smile on his face and Arthur instantly thought of Alfred.

Arthur gave him a confused look and the teen just chuckled. He really looked like Alfred when he laughed, Arthur thought and raised his eyebrow. "Yes?"

"Is your name Arthur Kirkland, sir?"

He nodded to the teen. "It is."

"Wow, he was right! Your eyebrows are really huge!" Arthur was slightly pissed. He didn't know who the boy was and yet, he went on and even insulted his eyebrows!

Calm down, Arthur, he told himself as he clenched his fist. "Please leave my eyebrows alone."

"Forgive me, sir." The teen gave an amused smile and handed him the paper and camera. "I was just asked by one of your acquaintances—a very good-looking man—to give these to someone named Arthur Kirkland who had huge and ridiculous eyebrows."

_How dare he!_ Arthur scowled and he mumbled an annoyed 'thanks' towards the boy. He opened the paper and saw an instruction written there.

' _Take a picture of the number you'll see from the ferris wheel_ '.

Arthur averted his gaze back and forth between the paper and the still smiling boy, waiting for an explanation.

"So!" The boy said, pointing towards the ferries wheel. "You'll ride that, and once you get to the peak, you'll see a number. Take a picture of that number and show me afterwards to get to your next mission."

"I just need to take a picture then?" Arthur confirmed and the boy nodded.

So he got into the ferris wheel and slowly, the box moved upwards. It was beautiful to see the amusement park from there. Of course, it was scary too, but Arthur didn't mind, as long as he could see the beauty of the sky from up there.

How he wished Alfred was right here beside of him. He wanted to share this beauty with Alfred right now, to put his arms around the American's neck, and to kiss him slowly and softly beneath the warm sun...

When he reached the peak, the box stopped for a moment and Arthur used that time to look for the number. It wasn't hard actually. When he looked downwards, the formation of the people standing looked like the number '1'.

Arthur immediately captured it with his camera and yes, it was really the number '1'.

So far, he had gotten '4' and '1'.

When he arrived again on the ground, he showed the young man from before the photo he had taken. He confirmed that it was right and he got a blue paper as his reward.

The boy waved at him and wished him to have a good day. Arthur wished him the same too and walked away while opening the paper.

' _Ride on a snake that could make you scream loudly and feel like you're going to puke_ '.

Arthur snorted. He totally knew this one. 

* * *

When Arthur arrived in front of the roller coaster attraction, it was totally packed with people. He had to wait and when his turn arrived, it was almost noon.

He handed the ticket he had bought beforehand and was about to go on the roller coaster when lady behind the counter called him. "Excuse me?"

Arthur looked to his right to face her. "Yes?" He asked bemusedly.

"Are you Sir Arthur Kirkland, by any chance?" She approached him and asked, reading a note she had on her hand with a frown. Arthur nodded and her expression turned brighter.

"Right. So, I was told by someone to pass this instruction to you..." She said and Arthur's eyebrow raised in question.

" _Ride on the roller coaster and please take a picture of the number that has been stuck somewhere along the ride._ "

_That bastard_ , Arthur groaned to himself. Did Alfred plan this to make him die? How could he make him ride a roller coaster and take a photo of something at the same time?!

The lady handed him a camera and told him to take the picture with it. "I hope you the best luck, Sir Kirkland," she said before blushing slightly. "And you're really lucky. He's a really handsome guy," she whispered before going back to her original place behind the counter.

Arthur's cheeks turned slightly rosy again and couldn't help but to let his hope go high again. Well—were these people referring to Alfred? Or was it another person?

Oh well. There was no use thinking about it now. Arthur shook his head and proceeded to sit on the roller coaster. He made sure he had wore all the safety protections before holding the camera tightly on his hands.

And soon, the roller coaster moved. People started cheering when it moved upwards and Arthur's heart gradually beat faster. When it stopped at the peak, Arthur breathed sharply.

Okay. _Here we go_. 

* * *

When the roller coaster stopped, Arthur looked like he had narrowly escaped death. His face was pale and his eyes were staring at everywhere, not focused. His heart beat too fast and one hand was clutching onto his seat and another was holding the camera too tightly.

He had failed in taking a photo of the number. He didn't even see it, let alone taking a picture of it. Too busy holding the seat handle to save his dear life.

In the end, Arthur had to do it again. He cursed Alfred under his breath for making him ride something like this.

His second try was a success. Arthur tried his best not to close his eyes and scream with all his might during the ride. He managed to take a photo of the number '25' stuck onto the branch of a tree that the roller coaster passed.

Arthur showed the lady from before the photo he had taken and she said that it was correct. Then he was given a blue paper from the lady. He thanked her with a still pale face and walked away somewhere that was less crowded.

He sat down on a chair and opened the paper he had received.

' _Say the answer to the mystery of numbers aloud_ '.

Arthur thought for a moment. He had collected the numbers '8', '1', '16', '16', '25', '2', '9', '18', '20', '8', '4', '1' and '25'. What could these numbers mean...? An answer did cross his mind last night, but he still wasn't sure.

_Sometimes we have to see something from a different perspective._

Arthur stood up from his position and took a deep breath. Right. He was going to shout his answer out loud—Arthur didn't care if it was right or wrong, but he hoped that it was right.

"Is the answer ' _Happy Birthday_ '?" He shouted.

For a moment, it was silence. People were looking at him and Arthur was embarrassed. There was no answer and Arthur thought that he was wrong until a soft voice answered him.

A soft, strangely familiar voice.

"It is."

Arthur gasped slightly, his eyes widen. He knew who that voice belonged to. Arthur brought his hand to cover his wide-opened mouth—he couldn't believe it.

Was he imagining things...?

"—I must be hearing voices," he laughed awkwardly, shaking his head twice and sighed. _No_. There was absolutely _no way_ that it was _his_ voice.

Arthur didn't want to let his hope high. He didn't want to get hurt.

The Englishman felt tears pooling on his eyes when a pair of strong arms held his waist closely from behind.

"You're not, Artie," he whispered.

"I'm really here."

Arthur turned his back and he swore his heart almost stopped beating.

There, before his eyes, was Alfred F. Jones with that big smile Arthur had fallen for again and again, staring at him with the bluest eyes Arthur had even seen.

Alfred F. Jones, who wasn't supposed to be here.

Alfred F. Jones, who was supposed to be at America, working.

Alfred F. Jones, who always gave him gifts, no matter how expensive they were and no matter how often Arthur had told him not to spend his money to buy those things.

Alfred F. Jones, who had the sweetest smile Arthur had ever seen, who had that deep and alluring voice Arthur really loved, who was very clumsy but also friendly and cheerful, who had the most beautiful eyes in the whole universe.

Alfred F. Jones, who was perfect for him.

Alfred F. Jones, whom he missed dearly, and, and—

_Alfred F. Jones_ —the man who had managed to capture him successfully and was the one and only owner of his heart.

"I must be dreaming, aren't I?" Arthur whispered to the American, his fingers running in between Alfred's hair, travelling down to caress his skin, towards his shoulders and arms, finally resting on his chest.

"Tell me—am I dreaming?"

Alfred shook his head slowly. "No, Artie. I'm real."

"Prove it." Arthur demanded, and Alfred immediately crashed his lips against Arthur's.

Arthur closed his eyes as tears started to roll down his cheeks. He put his arms around Alfred's neck and the American circled his arms around Arthur's waist, pulling both of them closer towards each other. Arthur felt like his body was melting inside Alfred's warm hug and he liked the feeling when Alfred's lips brushed against his.

It was soft and familiar—a feeling that he missed very much.

A burning sensation filled Arthur's lungs, but he didn't want to stop—yet Alfred broke the kiss and breathed heavily. Arthur did too, but when their eyes met again, Arthur couldn't help but to cup Alfred's face and brought their lips together again.

They kissed for a while, Arthur letting out all of the feelings that had bubbled inside his chest. Finally, Alfred was back— _his_ Alfred—and finally, Arthur could hug him and kiss him like how they used to do before Alfred left for America.

Both of them pulled apart after a few minutes, breathing sharply. But their eyes were still on each other, as if they couldn't have enough of the sight of their partners. Arthur ran his fingers against Alfred's chest and the American just pulled Arthur closer towards him.

"Surprise," Alfred mumbled and grinned. "Were you surprised?"

"Why?" Arthur ignored Alfred's question, asking him a question in return instead. "Why are you here—?"

Alfred chuckled for a while. "Actually, I shouldn't be home for about three or four more months—"

"Then why?" Arthur asked again, his eyes were staring right into Alfred's blue skies.

"Because I miss you," Alfred answered. "And also because today is your birthday and I want to be right here beside you to celebrate it."

Arthur hit his arm playfully and both of them smiled, though tears were still rolling down his cheeks. "You idiot," he whispered as Alfred brought his thumb to wipe the Englishman's tears. "You big, bloody idiot."

" _Your_ idiot." Alfred corrected and Arthur couldn't help but to smile even wider. "Do you like the gifts I bought you?"

Arthur hit him even harder. "Didn't I tell you not to spend your money to buy me things?" He scolded, a scowl appearing on his face.

"You did," was the reply he got from Alfred. "But I just couldn't not buying you all of those when I knew exactly how much you really wanted them."

"That is so very you, I shouldn't be surprised." Arthur mumbled and Alfred pressed his forehead against Arthur's. The Englishman stared at his hand, which was resting against Alfred's chest and bit his lower lip, preventing himself to smile even wider. "I love them."

"You do?"

Arthur nodded, before bringing his eyes to meet Alfred's again.

"But of course," he whispered and Alfred raised his eyebrow curiously, waiting for Arthur to continue. "The best gift is having you right here with me."

Alfred smiled as wide as Arthur and both of them just stood there, grinning and staring at each other. There was silence between them, but both of them knew they were comfortable with it. The atmosphere was perfect and the moment they stared right into each other's eyes, they found themselves falling in love all over again with their partners.

"Happy birthday, Artie." Alfred broke the silence with his whisper. "Thank you for being born to this world and thank you for letting me to love you completely."

Arthur nodded. And when their lips met again, Arthur knew that these past seven days had been a really good week, and he knew for sure that this was a birthday he would never forget in his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> eximicus here speaking.
> 
> FINALLY!!! I'VE FINISHED WRITING THIS STORY!!!!!
> 
> big thank you for all of you who have followed and read this story from the beginning until the end! this is my first time finishing a multichapter fic and my first time also to write a fic and update it daily. honestly im surprised with myself because i managed to update this everyday. it felt impossible for me but in the end, i finally did it. i feel really proud and happy that it has come to an end. thank you to everyone who read this story, gave it kudos and those who commented, it means so much for me. i'm really happy to know that you like it. once again, thank you very much!!


End file.
